Some people follow more of an Ultra Low Carb diet approach. This is generally around 50g or less of carbs per day. A ULC is more supportive of reaching a ketogenic state, but again total carbs are not the only variable when it comes to reaching ketosis (other factors such as types of carbs, protein consumption, portion size, ingredients, supplements used etc. all play a role and will be covered in more detail below).

BHB Salts and exogenous ketone supplements are literally changing the supplement industry. These products are pretty new and a little more expensive than other supplements. But I’d rather pay for something that works then spend tons of money chasing products that claim to work. One of the most popular ketone supplements is Pruvit’s Keto OS. You can check out our review here.
I wrote this post at about the same time Germany won the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro in 2014. There’s been a lot of moving and shaking in the world of exogenous ketones since then, not to mention soccer. Looking back on my post, I still consider it relevant in terms of what exogenous ketones possibly can (and cannot) do for performance. In this case, to see if exogenous ketone esters provide me a “boost” by allowing me to do the same amount of work while expending less energy (and work at a relatively lower VO2) compared to no supplementation.

What is the reason for needing to keep our stress levels down? Well the body reacts to stress, whether physical or emotional, by dumping glycogen and potentially glucose in your bloodstream, thus elevating insulin levels. This in turn blocks our bodies from entering ketosis. To keep your mental and emotional stress to a minimum, it may be wise to meditate, sleep, relax, or do something that is fun and care-free.

The effects of the two exogenous ketone drinks on acid-base balance and blood pH were disparate. In solution the ketone salt fully dissociates (giving a total of 3.2–6.4 g of inorganic cation per drink), allowing βHB− to act as a conjugate base, mildly raising blood and urine pH, as seen during salt IV infusions (Balasse and Ooms, 1968; Balasse, 1979). Urinary pH increased with the salts as the kidneys excreted the excess cations. In contrast, KE hydrolysis in the gut provides βHB− with butanediol, which subsequently underwent hepatic metabolism to form the complete keto-acid, thus briefly lowering blood pH to 7.31. Electrolyte shifts were similar for both KE and KS drinks and may have occurred due to βHB− metabolism, causing cellular potassium influx and sodium efflux (Palmer, 2015).

That’s not all. Though Prüvit in particular has a legion of fans (the brand has nearly 35,000 Instagram followers and some 256,000 likes on Facebook) and a small team of affiliated medical experts, there’s no hard science on Prüvit or similar products. (Prevention reached out to several Prüvit experts and employees for interviews but did not receive a response.) The research page on the brand’s website does include links to legit scientific studies. But the studies are on the keto diet—not on Prüvit’s products. When it comes to research on the actual supplements, the brand’s website simply says “Human studies on finished products (underway) at various universities and research facilities.” In other words, there’s no scientific evidence available yet to show that they actually work.
This is another point that Brianna Stubbs put me onto: often, ketone-salt companies use terms such as “technology developed by Dominic D’Agostino” as a tool to market their products. Dom D’Agostino holds the patent for the technology being used but is not associated with the products and does not necessarily promote them. In many cases, this feels like a marketing strategy that name-drops a famous keto expert in order to make a product sound more legitimate. There is an example of this on Real Ketones’ website.
These studies were approved by external Research Ethics Committees (London Queen's Square: 14/LO/0288 and South West Frenchay: 15/SW/0244) and were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (2008). Studies took place at the University of Oxford between September 2014 and September 2016. Participants were healthy, aged 21–57, non-smokers and had no history of major illness. Female participants were using oral contraception to minimize the effects of menstrual phase on results. Participants provided written informed consent prior to inclusion, and completed a confidential medical screening questionnaire to determine eligibility. Anthropometric characteristics are shown in Table ​Table1.1. Sample sizes were chosen following an estimated power calculation based on the effect size in previous work using KE drinks (Clarke et al., 2012b; Shivva et al., 2016).
For all studies, the area under the curve (AUC) of blood [βHB] was calculated using the trapezium rule. In Study 3, for each of the three drinks, the initial rate of d-βHB appearance was estimated using d-βHB concentrations at baseline and 30 min post-drink, and d-βHB elimination was estimated using the AUC between the post-drink peak (60 min) and trough (180 min) d-βHB concentrations, with a baseline correction to the value at 180 min.
There is a great deal of positive speculation that exogenous ketones can be beneficial for inflammation, cognitive enhancement, and even protection against certain types of cancer. There is mounting evidence that the ketogenic way of eating can help many people, and when used appropriately with realistic expectations, exogenous ketone supplementation can enhance these positive effects (25).

However, with the ketone esters, the effects are nearly immediate, and my entire body was humming throughout the entire day, but not in a jittery way. I was full of mental and physical energy that lasted without any sort of crash (it was a gradual taper). During my cognitive tests, things felt almost effortless as I played the various games. After my experiment was complete I continued writing code for several hours, then went to the gym to work out. I did forget to each lunch though, so there must be some suppressive effect on appetite.

Will taking exogenous slow down my fat loss? Since now before digging into my body for energy/ketones, I will first use up the exogenous ketones I ingest. Also do exogenous ketones somehow help get even more keto adapted, keeping in mind I have been on a strict keto diet without a problem and don’t mind it at all. Outside of performance improvements, do you think exogenous ketones is for someone like me who is primarily looking for fat loss.

Emerging evidence supports the therapeutic potential of the ketogenic diet (KD) for a variety of disease states, leading investigators to research methods of harnessing the benefits of nutritional ketosis without the dietary restrictions. The KD has been used as an effective non-pharmacological therapy for pediatric intractable seizures since the 1920s [1–3]. In addition to epilepsy, the ketogenic diet has elicited significant therapeutic effects for weight loss and type-2 diabetes (T2D) [4]. Several studies have shown significant weight loss on a high fat, low carbohydrate diet without significant elevations of serum cholesterol [5–12]. Another study demonstrated the safety and benefits of long-term application of the KD in T2D patients. Patients exhibited significant weight loss, reduction of blood glucose, and improvement of lipid markers after eating a well-formulated KD for 56 weeks [13]. Recently, researchers have begun to investigate the use of the KD as a treatment for acne, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with promising preliminary results [14–26].
The protocols carried out in these studies were approved by the the South West Frenchay NHS REC (15/SW/0244) (Study 1) and London Queen's Square REC (14/LO/0288) (Study 2 and 3). The studies were carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki, apart from pre-registration in a database. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Hi all…thanks for your articles and info. I am currently on a paleo diet, but want to lose more weight and bring it up a notch w/ ketogenic diet and be in ketosis. Not sure which product is best? Do you take the MCT oil and also a ketone powder. I know it may be difficult at first, but I am up for the challenge as we start the new year and would like to loose 40 lbs by May/June. Please advise as to what products are best so I can purchase. THANKS
Humans in the hunter-gatherer era survived thanks to metabolic flexibility — the body’s ability to use different fuels for energy depending on the nutrients available. This adaptation was vital during a time when the source, quantity, and frequency of food was uncertain[*]. Most of the time, people were fasting, so their bodies ran on ketones, not glucose.

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Medical Disclaimer: The material on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your physician before beginning any diet or exercise program.